For Pola, her studio is a creative cave where she can develop artistically. When she turns in at Oranienstraße with her old ladies’ bike, she immediately feels home. She then parks her colorful bike in the courtyard, grabs the poster material from her oversized bicycle basket consisting of a large industrial plastic box, and climbs the stairs up to the third floor. Arrived in her studio, first of all a cup of coffee. Sitting down, take a rest, collecting her thoughts, get things started.

“I always have a plan of what’s on. Of course, sometimes unforeseen things happen, but when I make my way to the studio, I usually have something particular to do there”, says Pola.” Pola loves her work which becomes evident in every single sentence. There a days she’s having a hard to time to get out of bed in the morning, no motivation to work, to pull herself together – like everybody now and then, but these are rather exceptions, depending on the mood or the weather.

Generally, Pola tries to spend as much time as possible in her studio. In case of upcoming projects or exhibitions, it can be days in a row, from early morning till late evening, on weekdays and weekends. But when she’s traveling – temporarily subletting her space to other artists or friends – her studio colleagues sometimes do not catch sight of her in weeks.

“Sometimes I return to my studio after weeks of traveling and I’m amazed because my environment has changed significantly. This neighborhood is so fast-paced that I often feel overwhelmed.” Like this vibrant and diverse city Berlin, the SO36 is constantly changing. You open your eyes and suddenly there is a new burger restaurant on the right whereas the old Späti on the left has disappeared, another nameplate on the door bell – a start-up, something in English. “You only need to think of the recently opened Hotel Orania,” says Pola, “then you know where it’s all going.”

And still, despite the fact that Pola had to leave her former studio after it was sold to investors turning it into their company’s headquarters, she does not see things as negative as other people might do. “Of course, the rents have increased within the last years but that also means that now, there is money here. Back then, I couldn’t sell my art in Kreuzberg, couldn’t live from my art for many. Now people in Kreuzberg, in SO36, are buying my works and I can afford the increasing rents.”